Gil Ronen

Freshman Representative Allen West (R-FL) has joined House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in condemning the official flying of a PLO flag in Washington.

The office of Rep. West said that the raising of the flag is “an attempt to legitimize an organization with a known history of terrorist actions,” in a written news release reported in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

West’s office noted: “By allowing this flag to be flown, the United States is extending a diplomatic right that we refrain from offering to even our own allies, like Taiwan. This action is a diplomatic slap in the face of our greatest of allies, Israel.”

Both West and another Republican South Florida congressperson, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have condemned the flag-raising. The two are asking President Barack Obama and the State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions to take back the permission that was given to the PLO to raise it.